Frank Farina says he is revitalised and ready to coach in Australia again

REVITALISED by his stint as Papua New Guinea coach, Frank Farina wants another chance to contribute to Australian football.

The 47-year-old Socceroos stalwart, last week awarded Professional Footballers Australia's highest honour - the Alex Tobin Medal - for his services to the sport, believes he still has plenty to offer.

"I've been out for a few years, but football is a real passion of mine - it's always going to be that way," said Farina, whose involvement with Australian football came to an abrupt halt in October 2009 when he was sacked as Brisbane Roar coach after being charged with drink driving.

"You can never look back with bitterness. Things happen and that's just the way it is in football.

"I've moved on from that a long time ago. You move on with football, and you always have the passion and the love for it."

Farina concedes it is going to be tough being given another opportunity at an A-League club or as part of the national set-up, but not because of the controversial way he departed the scene almost three years ago.

Instead, it is the lack of top-level jobs in Australian football that makes it difficult.

"The problem with Australia is that there's the A-League and the national team jobs, but under that there's not a lot of football opportunities like there are in Europe and other areas of the world," he said.

"The opportunities are limited but there are always opportunities that will come up. There have been a few that have come up in the past few years, but obviously it hasn't worked out.

"Australian football's going to keep growing. It's going to have its stumbling blocks along the way, but I've been involved over about 20 or 30 years. If opportunities come up, I'm still keen to get back involved."

The Darwin-born, Cairns-raised Farina is seen as a pioneer in the sense that he was one of the first Australians to break through in Europe after joining Belgian outfit Club Brugge in 1988.

Playing stints in Italy, England and France followed before he returned to Australia in 1995 to join the Brisbane Strikers.

Two years later Farina was the toast of Australian football when as player-coach, he led the Strikers to the 1997 NSL championship.

By 1999, Farina was in charge of the Socceroos and it was not until 2005 that he was moved on and replaced by Dutch great Guus Hiddink, who subsequently grabbed the glory when Australia qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Despite his contribution in helping the Socceroos get to the World Cup finals tournament for the first time in 32 years being often overlooked, Farina isn't searching for the accolades.

"You can't be looking for that," he said. "What was pleasing about the 2006 qualification was that my report that I put in after I was gone for the national team, which was never made public, had recommendations that actually happened in the final couple of games Hiddink was involved in.

"However it happened, the qualification was fantastic for us. It was just the way it worked out with Hiddink replacing me when he did."

Farina eventually returned to club coaching in 2006 with the Roar. Following his departure from that job three years later he was idle for a while before accepting an offer to become coach of the PNG national team in February last year.

What was meant to be a part-time gig for about five months has continued to now, with Farina having recently overseen PNG's Oceania Nations Cup campaign.

"I'm refreshed and I've had a great time there, and I might stay on," he said. "But anything can happen. Coaches are coaches. You're always looking at opportunities and what might come up."

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